


and pain is just a simple compromise

by baroqueserenity



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Accidental Pregnancy, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Arranged Marriage, Depression, Dubious Consent, F/M, Kinda, Pregnancy, Self Harm, Suicidal Thoughts, at first, cruel and manipulative tom, he's just a mean and cruel ceo now, hermione is sad n depressed n needs help, hermione suffers a lot on her own, like sadness lol, major angst, past hermione/draco, sort of Modern AU, still wizarding world but modern, then soft tom because he has an epiphany, tom was never voldemort, will be soft and fluffy later on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-03-26 19:38:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19012510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baroqueserenity/pseuds/baroqueserenity
Summary: After a falling out with her friends and the most humiliating public breakup of her life, Hermione spirals into a depression that makes her susceptible to self-destructive tendencies. A particularly painful night, one that has her feeling like she's stuck in a void with no oxygen, leads to her waking up next to the CEO of Riddle Enterprises, Tom Riddle, with no memory of the previous night.Tom's identity is a two-sided coin—a CEO in public and the heir to a huge underground Mafia empire in private—and Hermione's sudden appearance in his life makes him suspicious and prompts him to keep her on a tight leash. His advisors tell him to marry Hermione in order to boost his image, as she is a very famous war heroine who helped stopped the rise of Grindelwald. Hermione, whose thoughts and decisions are all fueled by her depression, reluctantly agrees to Tom's proposal, hoping that the change will make her feel something other than the neverending numbness that her life has come to.





	1. character profile

 

**𝕡𝕒𝕚𝕟 𝕚𝕤 𝕛𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕒 𝕤𝕚𝕞𝕡𝕝𝕖 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕞𝕚𝕤𝕖**

****

_**𝕥𝕠𝕞 𝕣𝕚𝕕𝕕𝕝𝕖** _

Tom is the 28-year-old CEO of Riddle Enterprises. He and his company are famous for working in both the Muggle and Wizarding worlds, one of the first of its kind. Under that prim and proper businessman facade is the heir of one of the biggest Mafia families of Wizarding Britain. During the Great War 5 years prior, his group remained physically neutral but leaned towards the ideologies of Grindelwald, the dark wizard. With the defeat of Grindelwald by Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter, he saw the flaws in Grindelwald's beliefs and sought to gain his own power in both Muggle and Wizarding worlds. At 26 years old, Tom Riddle managed to bring Riddle Enterprises to the top and made enemies of Dumbledore's supporters for his previous ideals and quick rise to power. A drunken night of which he has no memory of brings Hermione Granger, the golden girl of Wizarding Britain, into his bed and his life. Suspicions arise within him and his colleagues, prompting him to keep Hermione on a tight leash, even going as far as to force her into marriage in order to keep an eye on her in any case of action from his enemies. However, his life with Hermione Granger ends up not being what he thought it would be. She brings him complications in the form of her dark mental state and her previous dangerous entanglements with his subordinates.

 

_**𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕞𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕘𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣** _

Hermione is only 22 years old and hailed as the brightest witch of the century. Widely recognized as a war heroine, fame, fortune, and fans follow her everywhere. The revelation of a relationship between her and her childhood nemesis, Draco Malfoy, leads to a falling out with her friends and a public and humiliating breakup. Already suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from the Great War, Hermione spirals out of control into a deep depression that leaves her with self-destructive tendencies. Her mental state makes her vulnerable to the manipulations and machinations of those around her and after a mysteriously suspicious drunken night, she wakes up next to a nude Tom Riddle with no memories of the previous night. Distraught, Hermione is forced to cooperate with Tom Riddle when he not-so-subtlely blackmails her into marrying him. She assumes that the marriage is his way of solidifying his power in the social and political circles of the Muggle and Wizarding worlds, but finds that it is simply a protective and preventative measure for himself. She hopes that the marriage will make her feel something other than the utter numbness she has felt after so long spent drowning in pain, but she wasn't ready for the cruelty of the world that she entered once she was thrust into Tom Riddle's life.

 

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	2. i have been withered since winter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione has a rough day, but every day is a rough day for her. Today is much different.

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_ “You will never be worthy of me” _

 

_ “How can you betray us like this?” _

 

_ “Dear, you are nothing more than a shell. A toy for others to play with.” _

 

_ “I don’t know who you are and I don’t want you in my family.” _

 

Hermione wakes up with a gasp that makes her choke, pulling herself out of the nightmares that plague her every night. It’s only been a year since she was abandoned by her friends and her lover, but it feels like she’s been suffering for so much longer than that. Perhaps she has, being thrust into the middle of a war at 15 and forced to make scary and violent decisions that could impact the lives of the whole population of Wizarding Britain could really take a toll on someone’s mental health. Maybe that’s where the end of her life really began, at the beginning of the Great War. However, the suffering didn’t end when the war ended two years later. To Hermione, it seemed that her suffering and her sadness only continued to grow from then on, like a flower that didn’t know how to die.

 

At the ripe age of 22, while her batch mates were all living their dream lives with their dream careers, Hermione Granger is only a shell of her former self, her soul swallowed up by the depression caused by the war and the subsequent abandonment of her by her best friends and her significant other. She had always had abandonment issues, as her relationship with her parents were never the same after she had erased their memories during the war. After hearing the truth of the memory modification spell, they refused to have the spell reversed and continued on to start a family without Hermione. 

 

After the war, her tumultuous relationship with Draco Malfoy was revealed by Rita Skeeter and the articles set of the chain of events that spiraled Hermione into the state that she was currently in. Thinking she had found an eternity in Draco’s love, she had fought tooth and nail with Harry and Ron for them to accept their relationship but was given an ultimatum; it was them or Draco. Starving for affection at the tail end of the war that destroyed her and her family, Hermione thought Draco could give her everything and that Harry and Ron were only being petty, so her emotions got the best of her and she had chosen Draco in the heat of the moment, thinking Harry and Ron would eventually get over it. She never thought their friendship was easily disposable.

 

In the aftermath of her argument with Harry and Ron, she sought out Draco for comfort but she could not reach out to him. He’d told her beforehand that he would be busy, but she thought he would make time for her in the situation. After trying multiple times to reach him, she gave up and went to her favorite French cafe on her own. It was already dark by that time so she thought she would be alone in the cafe. However, she walked in to find Draco sitting in her usual spot having a cozy light dinner with Astoria Greengrass, who was the source of Hermione’s insecurity in their relationship. Of course nobody knew about her relationship with Draco, but over the year and a half they were together, she had heard enough of who deserved to be with Draco to be insecure about it and constantly compare herself with Astoria Greengrass. She and Draco had a very turbulent relationship and the insecurity catapulted when Draco had told her that his parents wanted him to marry the Greengrass heir. He had assured her that he had no feelings for the girl, but seeing the scene in the cafe made her rethink their whole relationship. Holes in Draco’s life that seeped into their relationship suddenly became painfully obvious and she realized that she was only a toy in his life. Grindelwald was right. She was only a toy for others to play with.

 

_ “Draco, I’ve been trying to get a hold of you.” _

 

_ “Ah, Granger. What did you need?” _

 

_ “What are you here with her for?” _

 

_ Hermione looked nervously between Draco and Astoria, hoping to whatever God there was that this dinner was nothing more than one between friends. _

 

_ Astoria looked at her, brows furrowed and a smile creeping up at the ends of her lips. _

 

_ “Miss Granger, Draco and I are having our celebratory engagement dinner.” _

 

_ Hermione’s eyes widened as she looked towards Draco, whose hands we suddenly enclosed in Astoria’s. _

 

_ “Engagement?” _

 

_ “Yes, Draco and I have been together for 3 years. We just made our engagement official with a private party today.” _

 

_ It seemed as if timed stopped for Hermione, who could only look at Draco’s eyes for answers. She saw him tighten his hold on Astoria’s hand, eyes never wavering nor acknowledging Hermione. _

 

_ “Oh, I suppose congratulations are in order. I hope you two live a fruitful life together.” Hermione couldn’t bring herself to say anything else.  _

 

_ Astoria smirked at Draco, then back at Hermione. “I saw the article that Skeeter put out today. I hope you didn’t think that you and Draco were serious. I have to remain a virgin for the wedding ritual, so he was allowed to have someone on the side until we officialized our engagement. You were always just a toy, Miss Granger.” _

 

_ Hermione opened her mouth, but no words came out. Her heart hammered loudly in her chest and it felt like she couldn’t hear anything but the blood rushing in her ears. Her hands were shaking, reaching out to Draco. He had only sneered at her and moved away from where she was reaching. _

 

_ “You didn’t really think I would marry you, did you? You will never be worthy of me, Granger.” _

 

_ By the time Draco had said this, Hermione had tears in her eyes and the other occupants of the cafe were gathering around to watch the confrontation. It took her a little while, but she had gathered up the courage to run from the cafe and apparate back into her apartment where she spent the night trying not to drown herself in tears. _

 

_ The next day, an article was published indicating Hermione as the third party in the relationship between Draco Malfoy and Astoria Greengrass, and a retelling of the humiliating and degrading confrontation from the night before. Hermione hadn’t seen it until much later, but that day, she felt that she was more alone than ever. _

 

Today was going to be a hard day, that much Hermione knew. It’s always an exceptionally bad day when she vividly recalls the memories the brought her to this point. It starts with the voices, Grindelwald taunting her, Harry reprimanding her, Draco telling her she will never be good enough and ends with the cruel memories that destroyed her self worth. Since that time, Hermione has not made any contact with any of them. She had become a recluse, using her mastery in Potions to become a freelance Potioneer. With that, she would never have to leave her home and made a living selling potions to stores around the Wizarding world. She was still famous, still loved, but none of that made her feel better about what had happened to her. She could only find relief in brewing potions and holing herself up in her little cabin for days at a time. 

 

Today would be the day her draught of peace would finish brewing, hopefully relieving her of the nightmares and anxiety that have grown recently. She needed the extra peace in order to be able to brew the elixir of life successfully. A year in the making, it has become her ultimate goal in life to accomplish, knowing she didn’t really have anything else to live for.

 

Her blankets swallowed her whole and she found it hard to get up. She mustered up enough energy to get up and open her blinds, only to see dark grey clouds surrounding the trees around her and her home.  _ Yeah, it’s going to be a bad day _ , she thought to herself. She felt it in her gut.

 

Her day passed like any other day, filled with brewing and sometimes going back into her nest of blankets to cry after a panic attack would hit her. That night, Hermione decided to be particularly brave and go out into Diagon Alley to have a drink. Of everything she’s been through, she felt deserving of a drink, even if she did have to have it by herself. At least she knew that no one would try to kill her.

 

She ended up at a new bar a couple of buildings from the Leaky, and the night was pretty hazy. She let the bartender pick her drink and she had thoroughly enjoyed it. Sipping on her drink, she decided to watch the people around her, but there was something that was wrong. Her stomach started to feel funny and the person walking to sit down next to her moved in slow motion. She drank more, hoping that the drink will relieve the anxiety that was building up inside her, but it only seemed to fuel it further. Her vision started to get blurry and her body swayed, only to be caught still by the man next to her. The blurriness of her vision only allowed for her to recognize a navy blue suit jacket and a comfortingly familiar pair of blue eyes. Everything after that was dark.

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	3. the morning light, it stings a little

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tom and hermione wake up in bed together.

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Tom can feel the brightness of the sun becoming too overbearing on his eyelids. He knows he closes the curtains every night before he goes to bed and he doesn't let anyone in his room, so why can he practically feel the burning rays of the sun? When it becomes too much, he opens his eyes. He sits up too fast and for a moment too long, he only sees white. The sheets feel strange, not like how it usually does. As his vision starts to clear, he can feel a movement beside him, a gentle shuffling, and it makes him alert. Rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes, he looks to the source of the movement and finds the silhouette of a nude (he assumes) woman covered by long, unruly brown hair and white sheets that were  _definitely_ not his. His first instinct is to panic,  but he has spent too long practicing his composure that he won't throw it out of the window now, not even when there is no one present to witness it. Instead, he pulls off the blanket and walks out of the bed calmly, so as to not wake the other party, but even the tiniest movements seem to shake her. As soon as he's out of the bed and nearing the window to close the curtains, she's sitting up and rubbing her eyes in the same manner as him.

After closing the curtains, he turns back to the bed at the now awoken woman, gaze lingering on her nude breasts (he thinks maybe she hasn't noticed that she's topless yet) and stifles a cough. The noise itself is enough to earn a hard flinch from her. She looks up at him in a daze, almost as if confused, and opens her mouth to say something.

"Who are you?" is the first thing that comes out of her mouth.

The questions earns her a quirked brow from Tom as his gaze alternated from her breasts to her face.

"I'm Tom Riddle. And you're Hermione Granger." He answers simply.

She doesn't pick up on his gaze and moves so that she is sitting on her knees. Her brows furrow in confusion, looking at him and finally realizing his nude form. "Riddle? from Riddle Ent? What are you doing in my house naked?"

He walks back to the bed and pulls the blanket back over himself, drawing himself closer to her in order to have a proper conversation.

"Take a look around, Granger. Does this look like your house? It sure as hell isn't mine." He said, gesturing to the space of the room.

Following his hands, Hermione takes a closer look at her surroundings and sees that it's only a small room with a single queen bed, some chairs, drawers and a tiny bathroom.

"This looks like the rooms above the Leaky. How did we get here? Do you remember anything?" She asks while abruptly standing up, showing her full form to him.

He notices her eyes roaming around, most likely looking for her clothes. That's when he realizes that she was definitely aware that she was nude, but still let him see her. He thought that she must have been really comfortable with her body. His eyes trail down from her back to her legs and notice an alarming amount of white scarring. Further thinking reminded him that she fought in a war when she was only a young teenager, so they must have been scars from battle. A true war heroine.

She bends over to pick up her missing dress and it snaps him out of his reverie. Thinking back on her question concerned him quite a bit. He doesn't remember a lick of last night apart from the fact that he went out to drink at the Leaky and ended up sitting at the bar next to a pretty girl. He remembers that pretty girl stumbling a bit before he caught her and then everything after that was gone.

He doesn't say anything for a while so she starts talking again, hoping to find some sort of answer to their predicament. 

"I can only remember up to drinking in the bar last night and feeling dizzy. I think I almost fell and someone caught me, but that's it." She explains, sitting back on the bed fully clothed.

At that statement, Tom realizes that she was the pretty girl and he was the one that caught her. The last of their memories align, so that's how they must have ended up together. He looks at her, eyes roaming once more. He thinks she looks pretty like that, hair still wild and so long, swept to the side so that her shoulder and collarbones were exposed. The yellow sundress she had on complemented her tan skin very well.

Her voice interrupts his thoughts again, though he doesn't know why he keeps letting his train of thought get away from him like that.

"Were you the one who caught me? I only remember a navy blue suit jacket, and that exact same one is hanging on the armchair." Her eyes turn to him expectantly.

He gestures for her to hand him his clothes and she follows.

"You know, you seem pretty calm for someone who woke up next to a stranger with absolutely no memory of the prior night." He says as he puts on his slacks.

Hermione just makes herself comfortable on the bed, looking at him dress.

"Things like this don't even come as a shock to me anymore. I'm practically numb to everything at this point." She says, nonchalant. It sends a chill up his spine, the way she says it. There's something about it that doesn't seem right.

Tom finishes buckling his belt before sitting down next to her.

"I can't seem to remember last night, either. My memory only goes as far as yours do. I don't even remember what happened after I caught you slipping. Did you feel that anything was off last night, by any chance?"

"Actually, yeah. I had the bartender make my first and second drink. The first one was fine, but after the second one, my stomach didn't feel so well. Everything was getting blurry and I started getting dizzy. I think that's why I started stumbling."

"Hm, that seems incredibly suspicious. Did you notice anyone strange around you? You were by yourself right? Why weren't you with any of your friends?"

"No, I didn't notice anyone strange. I think I would be able to tell if someone was acting weird around me. And yes, I was by myself. I don't find myself having quite a lot of friends these days. Mostly, it's just me. Were you feeling strange before blacking out, too?"

Tom looked at his watch. 9:53 AM. The last time he remembered checking the time was last night and it was 9:37 PM.

"No, that's the strange thing. I knew was I was drinking and I definitely kept an eye on the bartender while he made it. I didn't feel strange or nauseous. But I was supposed to meet one of my subordinates last night, but obviously that never happened."

"Do you think it might have been a spell?"

"We'd feel it, wouldn't we? I mean, you're the brightest witch in a century and I'm certainly a smart bloke, too. I think anyone would be able to feel a spell being cast on them."

"I guess you can never really know."

"You're right, though. I have many enemies."

"So do I, apparently."

At that, he looked at her sharply. He didn't think that the smartest, and possibly the nicest, witch standing in front of him would ever have enemies, but he remembered that she fought a war before.

"Doesn't seem like you'd have a number of enemies, but seeing as how you were instrumental in defeating Grindelwald, I'd believe it. What should we do now?"

Her eyes meet his.

"Are you really asking me that? I know you, Tom Riddle. You're probably smarter than I am. You must already have a plan set on how to handle this situation." She chuckles darkly.

There's something about the way that she says it that makes him look at her. It seems off, like she was just expecting him to tell her what to do. But he shakes it off because that's not what she's like (or what he's heard she's like).

"You're absolutely right, Miss Granger. I do have a plan, but I'm not the only one in this situation, so I'm asking you in order to be considerate."

"Right then, Mister Riddle. How about we figure out if we've slept together first. We were both naked when we woke up, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we shagged."

Tom nods, and walks around to the trash can to see if there is any incriminating evidence. However, he stops and reminds himself that he's a wizard. Why use a condom when the potion and even the spell exist?

At the same time, Hermione pulls the blanket and sheet from the bed, looking to find any type of remnants of fluids, but everything is dry. The sheets were white, so it was hard to tell. Then, she remembers a diagnostic spell she learned over the summer during a course on sexual assault, so she performed it wandlessly on both her and Tom. Both of their lower torsos glowed red, an indication that they indeed had sexual intercourse in the passed 24 hours.

"What did you just do?" He asked, looking at the glowing bit near his groin.

Hermione waves it off, "A diagnostic spell I learned a while ago. Says we definitely had sex."

"Right, so if we did, shouldn't you be a bit more upset? or have any kind of stronger reaction to this?"

She rolls her eyes, plopping her body back onto the bed and resting her face on her palm.

"Like I said earlier, I'm literally numb to everything at this point."

Before walking back to the bad, Tom puts on his button-down shirt and his suit jacket.

"And why exactly is that?"

She glares at him, "that is none of your business. So what's your plan?"

"We can leave through the back. I know a passage so that no one will see us. We can apparate to your house and start there. Normally, I would just leave it, but the fact that we both wake up with no memory is suspicious. Adding to the fact that we both have several enemies doesn't help. This must have been some sort of set up. Have you upset anyone lately?"

"Alright, I can apparate us back to my cabin. And you're right, this whole thing looks pretty suspect to me but I just don't see the motive. At least, not for me. And no, I haven't upset anyone, not in the last year and a half. To be honest with you, I haven't been in contact with many people. Have  _you_ upset anyone lately?"

"Granger, I'm rich, smart and good-looking. I'm upsetting people every day, but I've never been victim to an act like this. Let's just get dressed and go back to your house. I can start talking to my advisors when we get there and see if I could get anything from them."

Hermione gets up as Tom is gathering their things. He opens the door and looks around before leading the way to the end of the hallway, down the stairs to the first floor. There is a door in a tiny corner that she's never seen before and they exit through there.

"There's an apparition point just up ahead." He tells her as he tugs her arm.

Suddenly, he stops just short of the end of the alleyway and looks at her expectantly. She gets the cue and links her harm in his. After a moment with the familiar, sickening feeling of her stomach lurching, they find themselves at the living room of her cabin. He looks around and sneers.

"Have you ever heard of cleaning?"

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	4. i can't call you a stranger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tom and hermione try to come up with a plan, but tom's advisors already have something in mind. hermione doesn't want to, but tom gives her no choice.

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"Unfortunately, I am never in the mood to clean." 

"At least tidy up a little. This isn't what I expected of you, Miss Granger."

He notices her head hang down at that statement.

"I'm not what anyone expects these days."

Ignoring that nagging feeling of something  _off_ , Tom sits on the lovechair next to her fireplace. She takes a seat on the arm of the same chair.

"So we've come to the conclusion that this was definitely set up. We couldn't have just ended up in bed together. I  _always_ go to the Leaky and have never ended up like this no matter how many drinks I've had."

Hermione rests her elbows on her knees letting out an exasperated sigh.

"I feel like that means that the set up was for me and not you. The  _one_ time I go out in months and I end up naked in bed with you and no memory?"

He looks at her confused. "You really don't go out much, huh? I haven't seen any article on you since probably the end of the war."

Hermione looks at him strangely. There were definitely several articles written about her, especially during that humiliating debacle with the current Mister and Missus Malfoy.

"What did you have in mind? Because honestly, I could just stay in my house and I would be fine living the rest of my life in safety. My wards are bound by blood, so no one but me and anyone who is physically with me can come in."

"Ah, but what if someone kidnaps you and apparates to your house with you in tow?"

"They can't do that. The wards will recognize that it isn't me apparating."

Tom pondered on that for a moment, having never heard of wards bound by blood like that.

"I can't possibly leave you to do that. There is still a possibility that this was an attack on me, and with you involved, we need a solution that keeps both of us safe. Not that I really care about you. I don't even know you."

Hermione rolls her eyes at this. "The same goes for you."

"Can I use your floo? I need to consult my men about this. Maybe they have a clue."

Hermione only nodded. She watched him walk to her fireplace before she left for her potions room in the hallway. She walked inside, peeking at the elixir of life that was still brewing on her biggest cauldron. The color seemed right, and so did the consistency. She looked around at all of her other cauldrons to make sure everything was going nicely, hoping to distract herself from the undoubtedly freaky situation she managed to find herself in. A knock and the opening of the door made her jump, and Tom's head poked in.

"Granger, you've been in here for 10 minutes already. I'm done talking with Thoros and Lucius, what are you doing in here?" He asks, inviting himself into the room.

He looks around at the different cauldrons and his eyes end up settling on the largest one holding a blue-ish purple liquid. Before he could look further, Hermione jumped in front of it and narrowed her eyes at him.

"What are you brewing? I've never seen a potion with a shimmering, shifting color like that. I've only read something like that in a book by Flamel, something about immortality." He says, flicking his eyes to the cauldron. Hermione's body stiffens and his eyes shoot to her.

The widening of her eyes and the tightness of her body indicates that he said something to trigger her.

His eyes travel to meet hers. "The elixir of life. Is that what you're making?"

At this point, Hermione's reactions were telling of the answer. She was right to be nervous. The making of this potion was extremely difficult and almost impossible. Not to mention incredibly illegal.

"Now I know exactly why people would be targetting you. Who else knows about this besides me?" He asks.

Hermione shakes her head. "I've been brewing this for years to completion and I've never once told anyone about it. I told you earlier that I haven't really had actual human contact with anyone for a while. Except for shops make potions for. But i've never said anything about brewing the elixir to anyone. It's impossible for something to target me over this."

Tom walks up to her, placing his body merely inches from her.

"Interesting. This is getting very, very interesting. I initially shot down the first idea that Thoros and Lucius had given me, but now I think it might be for the better." He says, smirking. The look reminds Hermione of the same one Grindelwald had looked at her with. The same one Astoria had looked at her with. Condescending.  _You're just a toy._

Snapping back to herself, Hermione asks "What are you talking about?"

Tom lets out a feral smile, all white teeth. "Darling, we are going to get married."

Hearing that, Hermione's brain almost stops working.

"Married? You can't be serious. I can't! I won't."

"Oh, but we must. We've already had sex. My older subordinates are so old-fashioned. No sex before marriage, you see. And the fact that I've slept with you seems to have put a bad taste in their mouths. We must get married if you want to seem like a proper, young witch. They think it would boost both of our images. Mostly mine, though."

Tom traps her within his arms, moving them to her desk so that he doesn't topple over her cauldron. The same feral smile is still on his face and it sends a chill down her spine. The Tom in front of her seemed to be different from the one she had woken up to, and it's not even been two hours.

"I won't get married. I'm not pureblood. I don't need to seem like a proper witch. I don't even care about what people say anymore, least of all your cronies."

Tom steps closer to her and she swears she can feel his breath on her lips, his aura consuming hers.

"If you don't, I'll tell the Ministry and the public about what you're brewing. Now, you don't want that, do you? That potion is extremely illegal. And you have enemies, after all."

Hermione gasps, not expecting this turn of events. She didn't think he would go that far, but he did, and now she felt stupid. How could she let herself fall into this trap? 

His hands move up to caress her face, eyes searching hers. This was the face of someone who wanted and wanted and kept wanting. Someone who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted.

"Listen, Hermione. I can protect you and I can keep your secret. I can even help you brew it, after all, I do have a masters in Potions. Most of all, I'll be on your side. And I get to see that elixir of life come into fruition."

Ah, so the marriage was only a power play for him.

"Hermione, we can be powerful together, I already know it. Don't you want to? Be powerful? I could help you with that, and you could help me with your status and that elixir."

He was too close. She felt like she couldn't breathe. Her knees buckled and she fell to the floor. There was an overwhelming feeling washing over her and she felt like she was trapped. Back in that void again, falling and falling and not knowing if she was ever going to stop. Her hands tremble as they made their way to cover her face. She feels wetness on her cheeks and realizes she's crying, but she doesn't know why. 

Tom kneels at the girl, confused as to why she's crying. Maybe the proposition was too much for her. He pries her hands away and cups her chin, moving her face to look at him.

"What do you say, Hermione? Will you marry me?" He asks, searching her teary eyes for an answer.

She gasped loudly, tears still running down her face.

_You're just a toy, Hermione._

_That's all you'll ever be. A toy. A shell._

_And now, you're Tom Riddle's toy._

She could only nod her head. There was no way anyone could know about the elixir. She was trapped.

Tom holds her arm and drags it up so that she could stand. He wipes her tears, but can't stop the way she's breathing so harshly. He pulls her out of the room into the sofa before kneeling in front of her. 

He holds her left hand to his lips and kisses her knuckles, smirking darkly at her face and looking directly into her red-rimmed eyes.

"Congratulations, Mrs. Riddle."

She was  _trapped._

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	5. the flamed that burned my hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom, Hermione and a handfasting ceremony performed by the Malfoys.

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Tom waited longer than he should have for Hermione to stop crying. He still didn't know why she continued to sob and breathe so harshly after his proposal. Surely marriage with him wasn't so horrible as to cry that hard. He was handsome, rich and powerful in both the muggle and wizarding worlds as well as the underground.

He looked towards Hermione, who had settled sleepily into the armrest of the couch, and shook her before she could fall asleep.

"We've got to go to my place to get everything done with," He told her firmly.

Hermione looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes, brows scrunched up on her forehead.

"Get what done?" She asked.

"Marriage, of course. We shouldn't wait. The sooner we get married, the better it is for us."

"This is happening too fast. I won't consent to a true marriage bonding ceremony. It's simply too much magic to give and receive. The bonds are too powerful for a marriage of convenience such as ours." Hermione explains, making a move to sit up from where she was to face Tom.

He looked at her, pondering upon her statement. "Then what do you suggest? A handfasting?"

Her eyes widened. "That's perfect. Not necessarily permanent, but still with some kind of binding and protection. Who will perform it for us?"

He smirked at her while raising his hand to pet her head. She was much more agreeable than what everyone makes her seem to be.

"Don't worry about that pet, I'll handle everything. I'll apparate us to my manor, but first, let me talk to my subordinates about the binding."

Tom didn't give Hermione a chance to reply as he walked over to use her floo. Still tired and suffering from a headache from her previous meltdown, she could barely process who Tom was talking to before he came back to grab her and pull her form towards him.

"Hold on tight." He warned all too late and suddenly she was feeling a tight, tugging sensation behind her navel. She closed her eyes tightly. Apparition was still so hard to get used to after so many years.

When the tugging feeling went away, she opened her eyes to see that she was standing in front of a large fig tree surrounded by runes drawn on the ground. Her eyes were quick to read out which runes Tom had told their binder to include for their handfasting; fehu, uruz, kenaz, wunjo, hagalaz, eihwaz and dagaz. Signs of prosperity, vitality, joy and happiness were carved on the opposite sides of the runes depicting destruction, lust, rebirth and chaos. To Hermione, it was scary. Looking at the runes made her worry about what to expect from this marriage, despite only being fake and hopefully temporary. She did not want to live a life of chaos and drama. Such things only served to hurt her worse.

Tom noticed Hermione peeking at the runes carved on the ground and made to drag her quickly into the circle where the officiants of the ceremony were standing in front of the tree. Bringing her to stand directly in front of him, he transfigured both of their clothes to those appropriate for the ceremony; a simple white dress that revealed the expanse of Hermione's decolletage and reached down to her ankles, and a loose white peasant top and beige trousers for Tom. Their feet were bare in order to absorb the earth magic that would be expelled during the ceremony.

For some reason, Hermione was feeling incredibly uncomfortable despite having readily agreed to this ridiculous plan of Tom's. Her dress was lightweight and she could feel the throbbing of magic within the dirt beneath her feet. Both of her hands were taken in by larger ones, Tom's, which made her look up at him.

"Tom Riddle and Hermione Granger, with your hands joined, summon your magic to turn into the cord that will bind you to each other." A deep, familiar voice stated. From the corner of her eyes, Hermione saw hair that was long and almost white, but couldn't see closer as her eyes were stuck to Tom's.

She summoned her magic and turned it into a cord to wrap around her's and Tom's hand while he did the same. She looked down at their intertwined hands in awe at the magic that tied them together. Her magic took the form of moonflower vines that wrapped from her arm high up to Tom's. His cord was fire and flame, hot to the touch as it climbed from his wrist to her forearm. She winces as it burns a little bit and that sends fear down her spine.

The voice echoes again and snaps Hermione out of her trance. 

"These cords symbolize the connection of your lives. As your hands are bound by these cords, so too are your lives."

A pair of pale hands shift hers and Tom's higher into their field of vision and Hermione looks up to see who it is. Her heart nearly stops when she sees the gray eyes of her former lover staring into her own while moving his hand slowly away from hers. She can see that behind him, holding the scripture, is his father, Lucius Malfoy. Now she realized why that voice has seemed so familiar.

Hermione looks away from Draco quickly and turns her eyes back to Tom, who will soon be her husband. He notices that her hands are trembling and her breaths were becoming short so he intertwines their fingers together and he squeezes them in reassurance.

"These are the hands that will hold you, protect you, comfort you. These are the hands that will create and build a life with you. Most of all, these are the hands that will love you. They are bound by your magic and these runes." Lucius reads loudly as the cords move higher into their arms.

"I vow to hold you, protect you and comfort you." Hermione and Tom said aloud, repeating what Lucius said. At this, the cords began to glow and the runes moved from their carvings to the couple's hands. There was a bright silver light before both the cords and the runes disappeared onto their arms.

"Under this fig tree while the sun is at it's peak, Hermione Granger and Tom Riddle are bound together in marriage as it was witnessed by the mother Gaia, Frigg, Hera and Venus." Lucius said, finishing up the ceremony.

The lights from the magic disappeared quickly, leaving the four of them standing underneath the fig tree.

The ceremony must have taken it's toll on both Hermione and Tom as they both fell to their knees soon after the completion. 

"Leave us," Tom ordered to the Malfoys. He took Hermione and laid them both down onto the ground, still within the visible circle made from the runes. Draco paused and took a glance at both of them, lingering more on Hermione's figure. Tom noticed his eyes and moved to cover Hermione with his body. Soon enough, Draco left, trailing rather quickly after his father. 

The ceremony drained much more magic than he thought it would. He looked at her wrist to see a fresh burn and wondered if that was from the cord made from his magic. Amongst the burn mark was a series of older and thinner white scars and the curiosity grew. Before he could make any deductions, he felt Hermione's hand still trembling and he gave her a squeeze, hoping it would stop the shaking. They were laying inside a ritual circle, their clothes were getting dirtier by the second and they were essentially married. Tom felt a bit bitter about everything, but Hermione's hands were warm in his. He took that as a good sign.

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	6. his bonnie on the side makes me a sad girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom and Hermione and the limitations of their marriage.

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When they wake up again, the sun is almost out of the horizon and the stars have come up to accompany the moon. Hermione stirs first, woken by the sound of the crickets and birds. Tom follows shortly, alerted by the movement from beside him. Both of them assess their surroundings, from the runic circle in the dirt to the starry sky. The faint sound of a howl far away in the forest breaks the tension and suddenly Hermione realizes the series of events that lead her to this moment. From blacking out, waking up to having apparent drunk sex with one of the most notorious businessmen in the world (wizarding and muggle) to an earthbound handfasting. Hermione wants to laugh at herself, how far could she have fallen to become complacent to the whims of a wealthy wizard, to have fallen trap to a threat that her younger self could have easily remedied? All she could do was scoff and bury her face in her hands. Maybe if she closed her eyes again, she could wake up to a world that was different.

The hairs on Hermione's skin stands up when she senses movement beside her and sees that Tom had woken up and settled his eyes on hers. As she looked at him, she realized that he looked somewhat ethereal. This man that threatened her with the ease of a 'hello' and somehow convinced her to marry him looked as if he belonged to this very, some sort of forest spirit or diety. But, she knew better. Under all of that pretty and powerful was a conniving snake that had somehow climbed to the top of business and magic with his bare hands all while managing to remain alive in a race war.

"You look like a nymph," Hermione's thoughts were broken by his deep voice. Tom is still looking at her, but this time she notices that he's looking at her as a whole and not just at her face.

She's surprised, to say the least. It wasn't the first thing she expected him to say after their temporary handfasting.

"Are you okay?" He asks, finally catching Hermione's full attention.

Tucking her curly hair behind one ear, she says "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little disoriented. Thanks for asking. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm perfectly fine. Your wrist is burnt, is it from my magic?" He inquires, remembering the burn mark on her wrist from earlier.

At this, Hermione looks at her wrist and quickly pulled it behind her back in habit.

"It's okay. It's not really as bad at it looks. It just stung a little during the ceremony but it's nothing a little salve can't fix."

Tom, who was looking intensely at her from his waking moment, had seen the other scars on her hands and arms but figured it would be best to investigate it later on since her body language and her avoidance of the burn mark obviously indicated her discomfort with the topic. However, he was quite interested in learning of them. Especially the X marks scattered on her forearms. He knew that she'd actively fought in the war, but he never knew to what extent.

Hermione began to stand up, prompting Tom to do the same. Before she had the chance to move off on her own, Tom's hand went to her elbow to guide her out of the runic circle.

"Let's go walk back to the manor so we can discuss this marriage arrangement." He states, to which Hermione could only nod to as she was pulled slightly by him to follow in his path.

The walk back to the manor wasn't long, but it was painfully quiet and neither of them had made any effort to speak. It really wasn't until they arrived at the sitting room of his manor that they really began to talk.

Tom sat Hermione down on the chair next to the couch that he was sitting on and ordered a house elf, named Daisy, to bring them tea. Once the tea and the snacks were on the table, Tom readied himself to have the conversation. He took a sip of his tea and coughed to get Hermione's attention (she was previously occupied looking at the snacks and tea that Daisy brought)

"We should set up some rules in this relationship in order to maintain a good and steady image for the both of us." He started. Hermione nodded.

"Alright, good. Of course the handfasting was binding, but without the limitations of an actual marriage. I wanted to clarify that although we are technically married, the binding won't interfere with any of our other relations. Since this is not a real relationship, I do not expect fidelity from you, nor should you expect it from me." Hermione was quiet while Tom talked, and he noticed that there was no change in her expression as he mentioned fidelity, something he thought was surprising.

"You mean to tell me that we're free to be with other people?" Hermione asked, to which Tom nodded in clarification.

"Yes, you're free to have a boyfriend or lover or whatever you'd like to call them. I have my own arrangement with one of the women who work under me and I'm quite content with it, so I hope this marriage won't interfere with that. However, if I keep my lover, it would only be fair to you so let you have one as well. I do consider myself a just man, Hermione."

Hermione's trembling hands picked up her teacup to take a sip. She needed a drink to process what he was saying. The disbelief that she had felt earlier when she woke up was rising again and she just couldn't believe that this is where her life was headed for the foreseeable future, until she finished the brew and ran away from Tom's clutches. If her younger self could only look at her now, she would surely look on in anger and disappointment. How could she let herself come to this point? Since she was a little girl, she'd always dreamed of marrying for love, having a beautiful wedding and living out her life with a loving husband and children, Circe willing. She knew that her view on love changed all those years ago, but she never thought this is where her life would end up; threatened by a powerful, wealthy man she barely knew to marry him, and being told by this same man that he already had a lover he didn't want to let go of, not even for this marriage. Not that Hermione ever had any inkling of affectionate feelings for Tom that made her even a little bit jealous, but hearing her  _husband_ , despite only being in name, tell her that she'd expect him to be faithful to her right after their binding ceremony hurts. She's sure that anyone would feel that way.

Tom sees her take a shaky sip and opened his mouth to ask if she was okay with what he was proposing.

She nods, "Yeah, I'm just a little bit surprised. It's different from what I expected my own marriage to be, but I guess you're not wrong about being fair."

"I'm glad you understand. In addition to that, I want us both to work together. I'll help you with the elixir and you will help me with my business."

Hermione's eyes locked on his. "I won't be a part of any illegal dealings nor do I want to be coerced into doing dark magic."

"Of course not, Miss Granger. You will just help me run my business and boost my image. You are, after all, a war hero. I won't drag you to hell for it."

"I'm fine with that, then. I want to lay as low as possible. I'll allow you to announce our marriage, but I will not have any dealings nor any contact with reporters or even staff from the news or those disgusting gossip rags. I do  _not_ want to be in the spotlight. You can use my image and my status as a war hero in order to boost your own image, but I do not want to be in any articles other than the one announcing our marriage. If it's possible, please make sure that you refrain from using me too much. I don't know you and you don't really know me, so you don't really understand the pressure that the tabloids have put on me and I just don't want to be involved in that."

Tom was surprised at her determination to avoid the spotlight. He'd known about that exceedingly abhorrent debacle that those gossip rags had published about her, Draco and that Greengrass woman, but he didn't realize that it would make her so passionate about staying away from reporters at all.

"I completely understand. I'll agree to that, but you'd still have to show up to important functions with me and we will be hosts of many of our own, so you have to prepare for that."

Hermione turned her gaze down to the cookies on the table.

"If you have important functions to go to, you can take your lover under the guise of a guest. I will only attend the ones we host. If I could, I would stay inside my house for the rest of my life. I don't want to be paraded in front of your people. I don't want to be paraded at all."

Tom chuckles, a scoff following. "Bellatrix would be happy about that," he mumbles under his breath.

At this, Hermione looks up at him.

"Bellatrix Lestrange?"

Tom smirks. "Yes, that's my lover. She's Lucius's sister-in-law. Quite a bit older than me, but I do enjoy her."

At this point Hermione's fists are clenched so tightly that she can feel her nails break her skin. This was the same humiliation she had felt back when Malfoy had 'dumped' her, but the only difference was that she didn't love Tom. She didn't even know him.

"That's good for you. So, just bring her to these functions with you and leave me alone." She snaps.

In this situation, where she was married to a stranger who already had a mistress, she only wanted to be involved as least as possible.

Tom stood up and walked in front of her. She was lost in her thoughts so he used his hands to cradle her cheek and her neck and move her head to look up at him. He smiled, but something told Hermione that he wasn't happy.

"She is my lover, but you are my wife and therefore you hold more power than she does." He says. 

Hermione scoffs at his statement because she knew it wasn't true.

Her eyes find his and she mirrors his smile.

"Obtaining affection is power, and she has yours. I am only a cover for the protection of your image. If you're talking about power, it seems that I'm the one at a loss."

His brows furrow and his smile turns into a frown. His grip on her neck strengthens, enough to shock her but not hurt her.

"You seem to know your place very well, Miss Granger. I'm shocked to see the headstrong warrior so often talked about is actually a fragile, submissive pet who prefers to avoid any and all contact. It's all quite surprising. You're not quite the girl I thought you would be, nor the one I thought I would marry."

She scoffs. 

"I'm not the girl I thought I would be, too."

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End file.
